#DailyDevotion Israel Was Not A Constitutional Democracy

October 18

Deut 17:1–20

Deu 17:18-20  “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests.  (19)  And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them,  (20)  that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.

 

There is some pretty harsh stuff here in chapter seventeen. The Lord and Israel are not particularly tolerant of other belief systems. Indeed, those who practiced another religion, on the basis of two witnesses were to stoned to death. But we must realize Israel as such, under the Mosaic covenant was organized by the Lord as a theocracy. The Lord was king. Worshipping other gods was treason. The Church and State were one. Perhaps if they had practiced this more, they wouldn’t have gotten themselves in Dutch with the Lord by the hand of the Assyrians and Babylonians as they, the Israelites, ended up going off and worshipping other gods.

 

Verses eighteen to twenty are interesting and perhaps, even though we in the United States have a distinction between Church and State, should have our leaders, senators, representatives, governors, justices, and president get a hold of Exodus or Deuteronomy and make a handwritten copy for themselves. They would at least gain an understanding of where our laws come from and perhaps even gain an understanding of mercy and justice.

 

The king of Israel was required to do this when he gained the throne. Apparently, as we read the history of Israel and Judah, the part of the Law escaped them. Perhaps Hezekiah, Manasseh and Josiah did. They brought about reforms in Israel based on the Mosaic law. It would do our own minds well to look into the Law God had given Moses and the Israelites as well. What did God the Lord demand? What principles under the New Covenant might we still follow individually as Christians and collectively as a state and country?

 

We know this, thanks be to God, Christ Jesus fulfilled the whole of the Law for us. Rom 8:3-4 “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,  (4)  in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Through faith in Jesus, who fulfilled the law, we gain the righteousness he earned for us. In Galatians Paul reminds us the Law was our guardian until Christ came. But now that Christ has come, we are justified by faith in him. Such faith is credited by God as the righteousness he requires.

 

Heavenly Father, ever grant us such faith in Christ that we may be justified before your throne and gain your righteousness, that in this faith and righteousness we may fulfill the law by the power of the Spirit and live lives pleasing to you and in service to our neighbor. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.